~ Six Year Later ~

“Now look at that. His tee is a Nike original...and so are the sneakers. And look at that goddamn jacket... I bet it’ll cost a fortune. Waah... we’ll need at least three months of our salaries combined to get that outfit. Don’t you think so Jeno-yah?”

“You won’t be left with a salary of at least one month if you lose the person we’re looking for, Na Jaemin.”

Two interns from the TV station were holding a fairly lager banner with the name ‘Kim Suho’ on it, as they were waiting at the arrivals in the Incheon airport. Ignoring his friend’s nagging, Jaemin continued to analyze the sophisticated looking young gentleman who had come to a stop a few meters away from them and started scrolling through the phone. “Yah Jeno-yah, I think each one of his baggage are limited editions. Damn...look at all the swag...he even turns around in style...”

“Stop drooling on other men will you? We’re here to find someone!” Jeno sighed and took out his phone. “Keep his photo out so you won’t miss him. Or else Mr. Choi will have you and me for lunch today.”

The young gentleman who was being checked out by the two interns, completely unaware of their attention on him, took out his phone and dialled his closest friend’s number. “I’m here...Ge.”

“Oh! You’ve landed right on time! I thought it might get delayed a bit. Never mind...now look for the TV Station people. Mr. Choi said there will be two young dudes.”

“Luhan ge... I must—”

“You can go home after the interview. First get the business done. It’s a huge deal man!”

“Luhan—”

“Or is it Han Yooju? Kim Suho you’re so not going there as soon as you set foot on your country after six years!”

Suho ended the call without replying. And text messages filled with Luhan’s nagging started streaming in.

“Don’t you dare go there you dumb idiot foolish dimwit!”

“STRAIGHT TO THE TV STATION! You get me? You’re NOT gonna lose this deal over some high school crush!”

“Get a grip you punk! She’s your sister and you can’t run away from it forever!”

“And what are you gonna tell your parents after suddenly showing up at their doorstep? After all these years of not even contacting them on Christmas???”

Suho sighed and stuffed the phone into his pocket before walking out of the airport.

And the two young men were still waiting with their banner.

“Come to think of it...” Jaemin wondered aloud, rubbing his nonexistent beard. “That idol-like dude looks very familiar.” He watched Suho getting into a taxi with his luggage and leave the airport. “Where have I seen him...”

“YAAH IT’S HIM!” his friend Jeno slapped him right across his back in horror, before dropping the banner on the floor and start running after the taxi. “STOP THAT CAR BEFORE WE LOSE THE JOB YOU BRAINLESS NANA!!!”

Stepping back on his motherland after six solid years left Suho with much to see, and wonder how many changes time had done to the environments he used to see. Yet the emptiness and helplessness that he had in him when he left the country and his family, was still fresh within him, no matter how much time had passed.

“Looks like you haven’t been around in a long time.” the taxi driver remarked. “You seem to be fascinated by seeing Korea again.”

“Of course...it’s been six years.” Suho answered with a smile, with his eyes still fixed on the passing by fields.

“So are we heading to your hometown young sir?”

“Yeah...hometown.”

“To your family I guess.”

It took him a while before answering that question.

“Yeah...family.”

Not long after settling himself in the States, Suho had begun slowly giving up on his family. At first, his parents’ constant calls was the reason what he practically lived for, but when his mom used to pass the phone to Yooju, forcing her to speak with her brother, both the boy and the girl didn’t know how to react. Soon after, he gave up on calling them often, and got used to ignoring their calls giving various excuses. Gradually the telephone calls turned into letters or a seasonal greeting card sent about once every month or two, and then, it was just a Christmas card sent every year accompanied with a food hamper.

The boy couldn’t help but forcefully make himself distant from them, because having nightmares about both Yooju from this life and Eunae his previous life was enough torture, and he didn’t want to add to it by keeping in touch with them.

Being homesick and left alone in a faraway country was better than recalling the fact that they were siblings.

In the end, Suho had completely cut off his ties with his family, except for wiring them money regularly after he had started working part time to support himself.

As much as he missed them, he felt as ease, staying away from them.

They have her. They’re not alone.

He had always thought.

Meeting Luhan, a Chinese student in Media Studies was the beginning of his career, and it happened in his freshman year of college. It all started as the two became friends, and getting to know Suho, Luhan had suggested starting a travel blog.

And they started travelling around the country first, then overseas as well, one reason being Suho’s passion for travelling, and the other reason being Luhan’s study purposes.

It didn’t take more than two years for the name Kim Suho to be well known in the industry, as a passionate young travel blogger who was adored for his sweet personality and handsome looks in every country he set foot on. And endless offers for travelling programmes started streaming in for Suho, also giving Luhan a promising career as a freelancer production director.

He thought loading his parents’ accounts with thousands of dollars every month would compensate for leaving them.

But receiving an offer from a Korean TV channel for the first time, and as Luhan had forced him to accept it, Suho couldn’t help but return to the place which he left behind, and returning home made him look for her once again.

The feelings were still fresh, making him realize that he had to leave them once again.

I’ll just see them once and leave. It’s the best for everyone.

His phone was ringing again.

“Yes, Ge.”

“You avoided those kids and escaped from Seoul didn’t you?”

Luhan’s frustrated and disappointed voice came in a low hiss. “Heading to the friend of that girl you’ve been stalking all this time? I see...”

“Lu... I didn’t—”

“You thought I didn’t know why you always logged into IG with my account? You were stalking Im Yoona to get a glimpse of that girl in the photos Yoona posts right? And what else did you find? Her work place as well?”

“Yeah. I’m heading there to get a glimpse of Han Yooju before finishing my business here and leave for Rome. Happy now?”

“Suho-yah...” Suho heard his friend sigh heavily. “Why don’t you choose one of the two options you have? It’s been years dude! Either continue living away from them forever as you used to. Or else give up on your feelings for that girl and return to your family!”

This time it was Suho who sighed. “I don’t know Ge... I really don’t know.”

* * *

After a two hours ride, the taxi driver pulled over the car in front of a flower shop in a small town. “Are you getting off here sir?”

“No ahjussi.” Suho answered, leaning forward in his seat. “We’ll just wait here for a moment and head somewhere else.”

And he leaned back in the seat, having his eyes fixated on the small building next to the flower shop, its walls painted in vibrant colours glowing in the afternoon sun.

“Aren’t we heading out for lunch Miss Han...?”

Yoona opened door to the teacher’s room in the small kindergarten and leaned on the doorframe. Her friend paused the video that she’d been watching on her laptop, and turned to Yoona with a smile. “Is it lunch time already? Seriously Yoon...time flies in the weekends!”

Ignoring her remark, Yoona walked up to peer at the laptop screen. “Rewatching the old seasons?”

Yooju shook her head. “The new season was released yesterday. I couldn’t watch since I had too much laundry to finish.”

“Seriously Han Yooju,” Yoona dragged a chair to sit beside her friend. “How long are you planning to just watch him from these TV shows? Why don’t you just contact him?”

“What am I supposed to tell him after contacting him?” Yooju asked back with a hopeless smile.

“Just...just tell him the truth! It’s been almost an year now since you got to know it Yooju-yah...if you can’t get him off your mind, why don’t you just talk with him?”

“And tell him what? Tell him that I’m not his real sister anymore, so he should get back together with me? He left not only me Yoona...he just gave up on his whole family once he started achieving his dreams! It means he has a new life there and that’s what he had always dreamed of...so why would I confuse him and ruin everything?”

“Aish...you’re ruining my mood again.” Yoona slammed her hand on the table and stood up. “Let’s go have a drink. I don’t mind even if it’s just noon...this is so frustrating so I need a drink. Yah, shut that thing down and come out okay?”

Suho straightened on his seat as a familiar lean figure exited the brightly coloured building. It didn’t take long for him to recognize her as Yoona, his old classmate. And a second figure exited the same building and joined her, to take her friend’s hand and start walking down the street together.

The cascade of long straight hair was still the same, except that it had lost i